


Tanaka's Sister

by maychorian



Series: Tanaka Week [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Sibling Love, ryuu has anger issues, saeko loves him anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:48:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3480161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maychorian/pseuds/maychorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saeko was trying to make lunch when all of a sudden the kids outside stopped playing, and then someone started crying. What now? Had someone done something to Ryuu? Or had he done something to someone else?</p><p>Day Two and Three of Tanaka Week</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tanaka's Sister

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crollalanza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crollalanza/gifts).



> [Tanaka Week!](http://tanakaweek.tumblr.com/post/110118367853/tanaka-week-2015-prompts)  
> I combined the prompts for Day 2 and 3, and I'll probably have to combine others, too, so I can keep up. I can never write anything short. 
> 
> This was inspired, as much of my Tanaka siblings stuff is, by Crollalanza and her backstory for them. At this point it is practically a shared 'verse, we've both written so much for it.

The neighborhood kids were playing in the empty lot next door. Saeko had quit paying attention, busy trying to put something together for lunch. Summer break was great and all, and it was nice having the house to themselves with dad working, but sometimes Saeko wished she was a little better at making food. It was going to be convenience store bentos again unless she could make the rice cooker work properly, and it _wasn't._ It was possessed by _demons._ It _had_ to be.

A sudden silence came from outside, the chatter and laughter of the kids suddenly cut off. Saeko looked up, rabbit sharp, like a woodland animal sensing a storm. This was going to be bad, she could feel it. And then...yeah, here came the squall, the tempestuous sounds of someone crying as if their limbs had been cut off.

Saeko rushed outside, the demonic rice cooker forgotten. The only thing that kept her from going completely off the handle was that it wasn't Ryuu's voice doing the crying. She could handle pretty much anything, but not her little brother crying. It just...twisted things up inside her. She couldn't do it.

What met her eyes was almost as bad, though. The little neighbor boy from down the street—Kenji-something—was on the ground, sobbing and holding his face, and Ryuu stood over him with his fist still clenched, his face screwed up in a grimace. The other kids had backed off and were watching the scene with wide eyes. One little girl had covered her face with her hands.

"Ryuu!" Saeko yelled. "What did you do?"

Ryuu turned toward her, the grimace instantly falling off his face, replaced with dismay and contrition. But a spark of defiance remained in his eyes, sharp and stubborn enough that Saeko wanted to stomp her foot on the ground in frustration. Dammit, she'd told him to get along with the other kids! What was it this time? It was always something.

Saeko stalked over, her hands clenching into fists as she moved. She could feel the rage screwing up her own face, now. A couple of the neighbor kids gasped in horror and shrank back even more, and the stubborn spark in Ryuu's eye began to fade under the onslaught.

"Ryuu!" She reached his side and grabbed his arm, hard enough that he flinched. She felt bad enough to let up a little, but not enough to let go. "How could you? I told you to get along!"

The kid on the ground scrambled up on his knees, still clasping his hands to his nose. Saeko was disappointed, but not surprised, to see blood beginning to leak through his fingers. "I'm telling!" the kid sobbed. He let go of his face with one hand so he could point an accusing finger at Ryuu. "I'm telling my dad on you!"

This was too much for Ryuu. He reacted, tugging against Saeko's hand as if he'd forgotten she was there. He stomped a foot toward the kid, his mouth drawing down in a harsh snarl. "Good! I hope you do! And I'll tell 'im what you did, too!" 

Kenji-whatever blanched at this, and Saeko went still. She looked at Ryuu, searching his face, but he was focused on the other kid. "Ryuu..."

Ryuu ignored her. He pushed forward again, stamping his feet in the dirt, tugging so hard that Saeko almost lost her grip. He raised his fist and shook it at the kid on the ground. "You get outta here, ya punk! I'd better never see ya around here again, or I'll show ya worse! Ya think a bloody nose is bad... Just wait and see!"

"Ryuu!" The word left Saeko's mouth in a breathless rush. She'd never heard Ryuu talk like that. He...he was _seven._ Had he heard something like that on TV?

It would have been funny if Ryuu's expression and stance hadn't been so deadly serious.

The other boy certainly seemed to take it seriously. He winced under the torrent of words, hunching into himself. Then Ryuu shook his fist again, growling like an enraged beast. And that was it. The Kenji kid broke.

He jumped to his feet and ran, bawling harder than ever.

"Ryuu..." Saeko looked at her brother with wide eyes. He still wasn't looking at her, focused on watching his enemy flee. His eyes were hard and his face was set.

He didn't look like a seven-year-old engaging in some minor playground tussle. He looked like a warrior. One who had been utterly victorious.

When Kenji was gone, Ryuu suddenly relaxed. His arm went limp in Saeko's grip, and he stepped back toward her and looked her in the face. His expression was solemn and his eyes were large. He looked like her kid brother again, not some strange, distant soldier on a battlefield she hadn't know existed. "Sorry, Nee-san. I didn't mean to scare ya."

Saeko shook her head in confusion rather than negation. "Ryuu, what..."

But then one of the other kids approached, the little girl who had been hiding her face. Saeko saw the tracks of tears, but she wasn't crying anymore. She looked...calm. Soft-eyed, gentle-voiced. She touched Ryuu's arm, once, very lightly, then stepped away again. "Thank you," she said, and her voice was just as small and sweet as Saeko had imagined it to be.

Ryuu nodded. He was calm now, too, accepting the thanks easily. He didn't even blush the way he usually did when anyone praised him. "It's all right, now," he said.

The little girl nodded and moved away. So did the other kids, giving the Tanaka siblings a wide berth.

Saeko looked at Ryuu. "What happened?" She was still holding his arm, she realized, but it wasn't because she felt any need to restrain him. She just wanted the connection, the warmth of her brother's sun-browned skin under her fingers. She wanted the boy she knew, small and loud and grinning at tiny pleasures, not the strange figure she had seen in these last few minutes.

Ryuu's eyes darkened, but he still looked like Ryuu. It was the same face he made when Saeko ate the melonpan he'd hidden on top of the fridge or took the last piece of meat from the pan before he could grab it. "That bastard was picking on Ama-san. She asked him to stop, but he just kept poking her and grabbing at her skirt. It wasn't right. It made me angry. I know I shouldn'ta punched him, but I couldn't help it."

Saeko shook her head. "I hope you control yourself better when you're at school. You could get in big trouble. I don't want that to happen."

Ryuu shrugged and wiped his nose on his arm, looking warily around. The rest of the kids were keeping their distance, now, watching him the way you’d watch a stray animal that looked too wild, too dangerous. “Nah, at school I woulda told an adult. I promise, Nee-san. I won’t get in trouble. But there was no one around and he wouldn’t _stop._ I had to do something.”

“Good. I’m glad you know better.” Saeko nodded. It was good that he knew that violence wasn’t an ideal solution. Look what it had done… Now everyone was afraid of him. 

She worried about Ryuu’s anger problems sometimes, she really did. He needed an outlet. Something safe, something he could channel all of his energy and passion into in a way that was socially acceptable.

Ryuu sighed, still looking around at the neighbor kids. They were probably going to avoid him from now on. Too bad. This neighborhood had seemed nice when they moved in a couple months ago. “Nee-san, can we go home?”

Poor Ryuu. He looked so tired, all of a sudden. And far too old for seven.

Saeko nodded and tugged gently on his arm. Then she let him go and turned to leave. They were done here. “C’mon, let’s go. I was gonna make rice. Maybe you can help me make the cooker work. It’s being a demon again.”

Ryuu brightened, his face lighting up, turning softer and younger as he followed her out of the empty lot and back toward their house. “Yeah, I can help! I’ll tame the demons for ya!”

Saeko laughed. “Sure you will. Ryuu the demon-tamer, right?”

She walked a little quicker, a little lighter, and Ryuu hustled to keep up. “That’s me!” he said proudly. “I’ll take care of everything for ya.”

Saeko looked over at him as he trotted up beside her. His eyes were sparkling at the prospect of something else to fight, even just a stubborn old rice cooker at home. Something bubbled up in her heart, bright and effervescent, chasing away the clouds that had gathered.

“That’s my Ryuu,” she said, as proud of him as he was of himself. She slung an around around his neck and tugged him in to ruffle his hair, hard.

He squeaked in protest and tried to get out from under her arm, but couldn’t escape. She was too much bigger and stronger than he was, and she loved using that against him. “Nee-san! Let me go!”

“Nah, I think I like ya right where I have ya. Can’t get in trouble like this.” She rubbed his head even harder, making the shaggy hair flop around. She should give him a haircut soon, especially as the heat of summer was coming to Miyagi.

“Nee-saaannn!”

And they went home, and they wrestled with the rice cooker, and they never worried again about stupid Kenji-whosit and the dumb neighbor kids who couldn’t appreciate Ryuu for who he was. They had each other, and that was enough. More than enough.


End file.
